Condição auditiva de frequentadores de grupos de apoio a ex-usuários de drogas

Abstract

This research aims to verify the hearing condition of goers of support groups for former drug users. It was evaluated 17 individuals, all former drug users, being marijuana, crack and cocaine the most used drugs. The individuals were divided into two groups according to the kind of the most commonly used drug: Group 1 (G1) - 10 former users of marijuana, Group 2 (G2) - Seven former users of crack/cocaine. For the results analysis, they were also subdivided according to the time of drug use: one to five years, six to 10 years and more than 15 years. The subjects were submitted to anamnesis, pure tone audiometry (PTA), acoustic impedance measurements, transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE), suppressive effect of TEOAE and brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA). By comparing the results of PTA of the G1 and G2 with one to five years of drug use, G2 presented pure tone levels greater than 25 dB with a significant statistically difference in the pure tone levels for the frequencies of 250, 500, 6000 and 8000 Hz in the right ear. In the group of six to 10 years of drug use it was not found significant difference in pure tone levels for frequencies of 4000 and 8000 Hz in the left ear, with worse pure tone levels for the G2. For the group with more than 15 years of drug use, it was observed pure tone levels above 25 dB for the frequencies from 3000 to 8000 Hz in the right ear. In evaluations with TEOAE, TEOAE suppression effect and BERA, it was not observed a difference in the results when they were compared according to the time of drug use. G1 presented an average in the relation signal/noise of TEOAE greater than the average in the G2, but without a significant statistically difference. The two groups did not differ in the occurrence of suppressor effect of TEOAE and absolute latency and inter-peak interval of BERA. It is emphasized that only five individuals had adequate results for the age group in the BERA. As the time of drug use increases, more changes were observed in the G1 results in PTA and BERA, but it did not interfere in the results of the evaluations of the G2. The results suggest that the use of drugs can cause peripheral and central hearing loss, and that the use of crack/cocaine is more deleterious to the hearing that the use of marijuana.